The Front Porch Swing

[Beekissed]

Trying to go north in early may to check out moving back to VA....... not set in stone yet.

Oops...you missed the mark...a little farther north and west.

There! That's about right......

GOOD MORNING!!!!!!!!

Hey, girl!! How you feeling this fine morning?

How's the kids and chicks?

Gotta show you this...when Katie was about 4, Jenny was trying to get a ton of stuff done so she sat Katie at the table with her water colors. Katie got busy. Jenny peeked over Katie's shoulder and said, "Boy, you used a lot of that purple - don't you want to use a different color?" Katie said, "I'm not done with purple yet. Then I need blue." Katie finished her picture and then told Jenny they had to come over to show me what she'd painted. Bear in mind that it was the dead of winter and Katie did this painting entirely from her summer memory - no photographs or anything to go by. She knew what she was painting. As soon as she showed it to me I knew exactly what it was but just to be sure I asked her about it. (Didn't want to tell her she'd made a pretty butterfly if it was actually supposed to be a horse, you know?) She grinned at me...."You guess, Gramma." I just hugged her and said, "It's Artist Point, right?" Check this out:


Katie's painting - and yes, it's framed and hanging in my living room.


And this is exactly why we include our grandkids in almost everything we do.

And I ain't going on my cruise without you - you'll all be in my prayers, on my mind, and in my iPhone!

People have paid many thousands for just such a painting as that, but I consider that one priceless...it's excellent and in one so young! Keep giving that girl some paints....

 

[lindz8504]

Quote: Blessed! I'm still chugged up, and now 2 of the girls seem to be getting my cold. The chicks are fine. The big girls are out scratching in the rain, and the littles are hitting that gangly stage.... Here are some pictures from yesterday..... The chicks are standing tall, trying to see around me to watch the big chickens outside behind me... so funny. And all the littles think I am some big huge scary monster!












This is Kahoots, my BCM roo.



I did find out that the wreck I barely missed, was involving 3 teenage high schoolers. The 2 surviving are in critical condition. So please everyone keep them and those families in your prayers! God knows the comforting that they are going to need, and is the only one who can provide it!

 

[Beekissed]

Prayed! About time to let those little ones out to range with the big ones...when they are that flighty it's the perfect age to range. That way they will stay that flighty.

 

[lindz8504]

Prayed! About time to let those little ones out to range with the big ones...when they are that flighty it's the perfect age to range. That way they will stay that flighty.

Really?! ? What if they don't go back to the coop?

 

[Beekissed]

Really?! ? What if they don't go back to the coop?

They will. Where else would they go? At first they will hang right around the coop and you'll have to check on them before bed to make sure they don't just squat next to the coop instead of going back inside, but they learn very quickly where is home, food and water and safe refuge for sleeping. I usually let mine join the big flock and out to range at 2-3 wks, as this is the age when they learn best about being wary and developing good survival skills.

 

[lindz8504]

Quote:
WOW... ok..... If they don't go in, I doubt I will be able to catch them to put them in. Should I introduce the low ranking pullets to them, and hope that maybe they will bond. My lowest ranking are the 2 bantam cochin girls.... They aren't much bigger than the chicks! LOL

 

[Beekissed]

WOW... ok..... If they don't go in, I doubt I will be able to catch them to put them in. Should I introduce the low ranking pullets to them, and hope that maybe they will bond. My lowest ranking are the 2 bantam cochin girls.... They aren't much bigger than the chicks! LOL

Nope....just turn on the light in the coop come dusk and they will gravitate to the light. If they don't make it in by dark, you will find them right next to the coop and are easy to scoop up and place in the coop at that point. Usually they are like military guys finding the mess hall...they just follow the crowd. After you see they are finding their way to the coop with consistency then you won't have to worry about lights and such.

Just let them go and watch what they do...you'll be surprised just how quickly these little ones learn the rules of the flock. I also feed mine with the big flock at that age also. Free ranging makes all of these things easier and more simple.

 

[perchie.girl]

Probably molasses. They add it to livestock feed to make it more palatable and also as a calorie and iron source. You might want to consider a bucket fitted out with poultry nipples and then you will always have a clean, adequate amount of water available to chicks and larger birds alike. They are extremely cheap, easy to screw into a bucket and they last a long, long time.

http://www.amazon.com/Threaded-Poultry-Nipples-Sanitary-Chickens/dp/B00846NTRI





This one below has the red nipples on the bottom of the bucket for the smaller chicks and a poultry cup nipple on the side of the bucket for the older birds.

Molassis also binds organic dust created by the milling process.

Love the chicke waterers BEE

deb

 

[lindz8504]

Quote:
Ok... I guess I will let them out the next pretty day that we have. Its rainy and cold here today, and even the big guys aren't coming out much.... Well, except for a couple.

 

[perchie.girl]

I'm not sure how to get them to use the nipple waterers either, but after the week I've had I can tell you that when the ones I ordered get here these chickens will either learn or they'll thirst to death! Aw, you know I'd never do anything to deliberately hurt my chicks, but I figure if they are going to peck at everything they see, and one of those things squirts the water that they're craving right into their mouths, it probably won't take long for them to get the hang of it.

I'm not big on hurting critters, but I gotta tell ya that sending Jane the Evil flying yesterday morning flat out felt good! Little brat! I had all the others into the temporary box so it was just Jane, Charlie, and Rose left. Jane came at me again and I nailed her. Flicked her right under the beak with my fingers! She backed up and made a second run and she got another dose of "I don't think so." Prince Charlie was standing on the roost like a bookie watching a prize fight. Rose tried an end run while I was distracted with Jane. Surprised the chicken poop out of her when I just grabbed her up and held her with her feet suspended in mid-air. She was squawking and trying to flap her wings but they were clamped tight against her body by my hand. I lifted her out of the brooder and dumped her unceremoniously into the holding box, where she hunkered down and tried to make sense out of what had just happened.

Then it was back to Jane the Evil and Prince Charlie. By now Jane was backed into the furthest corner of the brooder giving me the chicken glare, with her wings held back and her head extended, and Charlie was back in the front row waiting for round two. He didn't have to wait long. Jane came darting out of her corner and met the flicking finger of fate under her beak again, a little harder this time. She didn't back up this time, just kept coming like a machine gun, wings flapping madly the whole time. This time when I flicked her, I did it right on top of her head with my other hand instead of the one she was focusing on. (Does it make me a terrible person that I was actually enjoying this?) You know, Bee, what was really weird was that after the second time I nailed her she rarely made another sound - it was like watching a snake eyeing it's prey - the stare and the silence and then the strike. One more strike at me, one more flick from me, and it was exactly as you described - she was trying so hard to avoid the giant Superchicken that she literally ran up and down the length of that brooder looking for way out.

Funny, at some point in the battle Charlie decide that the fun of watching the fight was over. He went back to the feeder and started munching. Guess he figured, "See, I'm being good. I'm the good chicken. You love me, right?" He got the Rose treatment. A grab and a dump and for him the show was over. Jane was next. A grab, a few squawks, and she was in the holding cell too. I DID it! No gloves, no blood, no kidding! Now, of course all of this took longer to describe than it did to actually happen, but when I took them all back out of the box to put them into the clean brooder Jane the Evil looked like the playground bully who'd been bested - she would see my hand and she actually looked like a worm squirming under all the other chicks to hide.

Have I licked her? Heck, I dunno. Charlie and Rose seemed to have learned by watching, but Jane may be one of those critters who holds a grudge, so we'll see. All I know is that the next time I ever have to put my hands in there, except for changing out their waterer, I'll be ready. The last time I'll need to handle her will be to move her out to the coop so I guess we'll find out then.

Good Job.... I dont mess with my chickens much. But when i have to catch them on the run I use a chicken net...... Um er a landing net for fishing. I know yours are little now but later.... But mostly out in the yard its just takes a length of PVC to extend my arm for "Herding".... LOL. Also carrying an aggressive bird by his feet has worked wonders for my Roos when they get full of themselves.

I just put each of his ankles between fingers so I dont squish them together and carry him for a bit. When they finally relax and drop their wings Like.... "OK you got me I GIVE UP" I turn em back up and set them down. Usually the only response is shaking their feathers to re arrange them then looking around to see if anyone saw this indignant abuse.

Oh and for transport to the coop I used a pillow case ten birds at a time. Didnt hurt them for the five minute walk from the house to the coop,

deb